Tuning the 80/40/20 Fan

 I built the 15/10/6/2 fan last fall in the basement.   Fine tuned it then dragged it to the top of the hill and put it up and when it was lit up it behaved exactly like it did in the basement.    Based on this I tried the same approach with the 80/40/20 fan and set it up just outside the house a few feet above the ground.   When I strung the antenna up the tuning changed dramatically much to my surprise.    

Below is the 80/40/20 fan dipole after if was strung up at its operating position BEFORE it was tuned. 

Below is the 80/40/20 fan dipole after if was strung up at its operating position AFTER it was tuned. Might I add it took hours and multiple trips up and down the hill.  

Played around the next day a bit more and ended up with....

LESSON LEARNED    as I moved the antenna up and down the impedance changed and the 1:1 match was skewd +/- 150 KHz.  

Putting the Nano VNA to good use!

 The problem with the 80/40/20 antenna and the lack of ability to tune the 80 meter segment was a result of a bad IFL.   No big surrprise when its nearly 500' between the radio and the antenna.   

First I terminated the IFL that runs between the house and each of the 4X1 switches.  

Its about 100' to each 4X1 switch.    So there was no problem between the house and both switches.

Terminated the 80/40/20 fan dipole IFL at that runs to the top of the hill...

Terminated the 15/10/6/2 IFL that run to the top of the hill ...

NEW RULE...Before using any IFL new or in use terminate and sweep.     

Fall Antenna Work

 Put a solid 4 days in working on antenna projects a couple of weeks ago!  

1.  Took down the 80/40/20 fan dipole from the top of the hill.   It wasn't performing as well as I  expected and it wouldn't tune to anything but 3.740 MHz on the 80 meter segment.   
2. Tuned the 80/40/20 fan just outside the house then hung it up just behind the house. 
3. I swept the IFL to both 4X1 switches as well as to a couple of chunks then went to the top of the hill ( separate blog entry ).
4. Tuned the 80/40/20 fan in its operating position.    

All those activites entailed many many many trips up and down the hill.